The right thing is usually the smart thing.
We saw it the other day when Mayor Bob Buckhorn, in response to an invitation, paid a high-profile visit to the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay. Its executive director, Mahmoud Elkasaby, had invited Buckhorn out of concern for those in his community who were “living in fear for nothing that they had done or caused.”
Buckhorn, sans shoes but not sound bites, spoke to a packed mosque about Tampa’s demographic mosaic and the infamous executive order that is an unacceptable, Islam-targeting “ban.” He underscored that it is “an attack on Islam as a religion.” He told the congregation that “This city has your back. … You are us.”
In a way, this was right in Buckhorn’s wheelhouse. Mayors can make a difference, a key reason why he likes his job. Whether it’s recruiting businesses and events, lobbying state and federal governments, rallying residents about transit and social issues or having a vision for tomorrow and the day after. He likes the theater; he likes the crowds; and he dislikes anything that would tear at the fabric of his city.
Major-city mayors are CEO-cheerleader types. They do retail politics and get out among the people. They are hands on.
Buckhorn knows what a visceral issue like this can do. It can harass and scare and stigmatize a segment of Tampa’s residents. It’s not morally right. It’s not our values. It’s not who we are as Tampa–or America. He also knows that it makes security more problematic if you, in effect, insult and intimidate a class of society that is uniquely positioned to help–as only American Muslims can.